Title 18 – United States Code – Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Part 1 – Crimes

Chapter 95 – Racketeering

Sec. 1956. Laundering of monetary instruments

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[optional link to  www.govinfo.gov  – text of statute]

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(a) Whoever, in any of the circumstances set forth in subsection (d), knowingly engages or attempts to engage in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000 and is derived from specified unlawful activity, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).

(b)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the punishment for an offense under this section is a fine under title 18, United States Code, or imprisonment for not more than ten years or both. If the offense involves a pre-retail medical product (as defined in section 670) the punishment for the offense shall be the same as the punishment for an offense under section 670 unless the punishment under this subsection is greater.

(2) The court may impose an alternate fine to that imposable under paragraph (1) of not more than twice the amount of the criminally derived property involved in the transaction.

(c) In a prosecution for an offense under this section, the Government is not required to prove the defendant knew that the offense from which the criminally derived property was derived was specified unlawful activity.

(d) The circumstances referred to in subsection (a) are—

(1) that the offense under this section takes place in the United States or in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States; or

(2) that the offense under this section takes place outside the United States and such special jurisdiction, but the defendant is a United States person (as defined in section 3077 of this title, but excluding the class described in paragraph (2)(D) of such section).

(e) Violations of this section may be investigated by such components of the Department of Justice as the Attorney General may direct, and by such components of the Department of the Treasury as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct, as appropriate, and, with respect to offenses over which the Department of Homeland Security has jurisdiction, by such components of the Department of Homeland Security as the Secretary of Homeland Security may direct, and, with respect to offenses over which the United States Postal Service has jurisdiction, by the Postal Service. Such authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Postal Service shall be exercised in accordance with an agreement which shall be entered into by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Postal Service, and the Attorney General.

(f) As used in this section—

(1) the term “monetary transaction” means the deposit, withdrawal, transfer, or exchange, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, of funds or a monetary instrument (as defined in section 1956(c)(5) of this title) by, through, or to a financial institution (as defined in section 1956 of this title), including any transaction that would be a financial transaction under section 1956(c)(4)(B) of this title, but such term does not include any transaction necessary to preserve a person’s right to representation as guaranteed by the sixth amendment to the Constitution;

(2) the term “criminally derived property” means any property constituting, or derived from, proceeds obtained from a criminal offense; and

(3) the terms “specified unlawful activity” and “proceeds” shall have the meaning given those terms in section 1956 of this title.

(Added Pub. L. 99–570, title I, §1352(a), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3207–21; amended Pub. L. 100–690, title VI, §§6182, 6184, 6469(a)(2), Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4354, 4377; Pub. L. 102–550, title XV, §§1526(b), 1527(b), Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 4065; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330020, Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2149; Pub. L. 103–325, title IV, §413(c)(2), Sept. 23, 1994, 108 Stat. 2255; Pub. L. 109–177, title IV, §403(c)(2), Mar. 9, 2006, 120 Stat. 243; Pub. L. 111–21, §2(f)(2), May 20, 2009, 123 Stat. 1618; Pub. L. 112–186, §4(b)(2), Oct. 5, 2012, 126 Stat. 1429.)

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